The Resilience Effect
by RRLforever
Summary: Bella has the perfect life and everything she could imagine wanting in it. That is until tragedy hits and forces her to pick up the pieces and show what she is really made of. With a fragile body, a wounded heart, and a broken spirit, she must face her fears head on and master the task of bouncing back from life's curve balls. AH Romance/Hurt/Comfort Edward/Bella story.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Accident

BPOV

The sound of my beating heart tells me I'm alive, or maybe I'm dreaming. Although, I'm quite sure in dreams you don't feel this type of pain. I see shadows of light, but my eyelids feel like they're glued shut. I hear indistinct voices, but I can't seem to find my own. I try again to open my eyes, while the pain in my head just seems to grow with no mercy. I feel warm, but also very cold. Most of the sounds surrounding me, I don't recognize, but the smell seems more familiar. It's a sterile scent mixed with the smell of cleaning products and bad food. I try once again to speak, but the pain of trying to open my mouth is unbearable and the pain in my head intensifies with my growing frustration. If this is a dream, my prayer now, is that I will just wake up, and rid myself of this psychological, self inflicted pain coursing through my entire body. Maybe I'm dead; am I in hell? I try to think through the pain and remember if I had lived a life that would land me in such a place, but, I couldn't seem to remember much at all.

So I try to focus on the voices, hoping to recognize them. No such luck! I hear a woman whose voice sounds like a soft bell ringing; soothing to my ears. There's a male voice that sound very masculine, but gentle at the same time. Still, my mind searches for recognition with failure. If this was hell, I don't think anything would feel soothing or gentle about it; so I dismiss that thought. So I focus on the basics of what my mind will allow me to recall. My name is Isabella Marie Swan-Newton, I'm twenty eight years old, my mother's name is Renee and my father's name is Charlie. I have a half brother named Jacob Black who is six years older than me and grew up on a reservation with his dad. I am four months pregnant with my first… Oh my God, I'm pregnant! My name is Isabella Swan-Newton! I'm married to the love of my life, Mike Newton and we're having our first child! My mind is racing and jumping from one thought to the next, but I can't seem to focus or make sense out of any of them. I try harder to focus and my head continues to pound relentlessly. Where is my husband; where am I? Why is a cold chill running up my spine, like when you're watching a horror movie and that awful music starts playing, indicating someone is getting ready to die? I feel every muscle in my body tense, and the pain once again shoots through me.

I focus on taking deep breaths, because, isn't that what you're supposed to do when trying to calm down? I concentrate on blocking out the pain and try to remember whatever it is my brain is so cloudy about. I hear soft music, classical. I love classical music although my husband doesn't. However, he always turns it on for me when he wants me to relax. Mike is sweet like that, always putting me first. He takes good care of me and doesn't miss a day of letting me know how lucky he is to have me. What I don't think he really knows is, I'm the lucky one. Mike has made it his personal business to make all of my practical and wildest dreams come true. The fact that he looks like Richard Gere from Pretty Woman reincarnated is just a plus. Mike is fourteen years older than me and we have been married four blissful years. I met him when I was twenty three, we dated for six months before he proposed and were married three months after that. I am Mike's second wife and stepmother to his only child, Mike, Jr. Mike and his first wife, Jessica, divorced when Mike, Jr. was seven. Mike says the pressures of being a wife and mother was just too stressful for her and she chose to leave and moved back with her family in Canada. After meeting her, I'd say the stress of being a wife and mother cramped her style of living a responsibility free life. So here I was at twenty four years of age with an eleven year old son. To say he is what every mother dreams of in a son is an understatement. He is an exact replica of his father, without the salt and pepper hair. He is tall, lean, has a head full of thick, dirty blonde hair, and the most striking green eyes; which by the way, is the only trait he inherited from his mother. Mike's eyes are a bluish gray color and are one of the things that attracted me to him.

Mike, Jr. has just started a six week summer program at one of the top basketball camps in the country. My son breathes, sleeps, and eats basketball. The thing is, he's really good at it and was nationally ranked as fifth in the country at the age of twelve. He is now a sophomore in high school and is ranked number three in the country. In fact Mike and I were on our way home from dropping him off at the camp when… Oh no! Oh No! My heart starts racing as my mind recalls the drive back home from the camp. I hear the screech of tires, followed by a high pitch scream, and silence and darkness. A car accident? Is that what happened? I struggle to remember more details and pray like hell that I really am just stuck in a bad dream. The pounding in my head intensifies, my mouth feels like it's been stuffed with cotton, I have pain shooting through every part of my body and my mind is jumping through a million scenes as is if I'm watching a slide show on fast forward. I try to open my eyes once again but I can't. Fear grips me as I realize I have quite possibly been in a car accident and a very bad one at that. I try to reach for my stomach, because I can't feel my baby moving. Coincidently my arms aren't moving either, no matter how hard I try, they just won't.

What happened? Where am I? Where is my husband? And… is our child okay?

 **A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. I will post chapter 2 soon! Leave me your thoughts, should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Remembering

BPOV

"Why isn't she waking up? I thought you said she would wake up soon?"

I hear the anxiety in my mother's voice and I know now that something awful has happened.

"Mrs. Swan, in her condition she is lucky to even be alive. Her brain activities are very strong and I'm confident she will wake up soon; however there is nothing I can do to speed up the process. We just have to give her time."

My heart starts to beat so fast, I feel as if it will pound through my chest. I struggle more than ever to open my eyes, and this time, it works. I see a sliver of light as my eyelids crack open. The light hurts my eyes. I listen to my mother and whom I assume to be a doctor discussing my condition and wonder how I can alert them that I'm aware of their presence. I hear the sounds of machines that are most likely monitoring my vital signs. A shiver runs up my spine and I feel cold. My heart continues to race and I can hear the machine monitoring this vital organ, start to beep faster, as if it is playing a tune.

"Oh my gosh, her eyes are open! Bella! Bella! Sweetie, can you hear me?" I can hear the panic in my mom's voice and although I know my mom has always been a little melodramatic, my heart breaks for her.

My mother is at my side and I can feel her warm breath on my skin as she calls out my name.

"Isabella, can you hear me? If you can hear me squeeze my hand."

This voice I do not recognize at all, but I muster up all the strength I can and try to follow his request. I close my eyes again because the light is making my head pound more.

"Okay, that's good Isabella. I felt that. My name is Dr. Carlisle Cullen and you are in Community Hospital. Give me another squeeze if you understand me."

Again, I fight against the pain in my limbs and put all my efforts into squeezing his hand. I can hear my mother sobbing at my side and I want so bad to reach out and console her, but I can't. So I lie there praying that this doctor will give me something, anything to take away the pain I'm in.

"You're doing great Isabella. I need to do a quick exam on you, so don't be alarmed when you feel me touch you, okay."

I give his hand another squeeze, because it's the best I can do right now. I feel his hands on my arms and he gives them a light squeeze before doing the same to both of my legs.

"Isabella, can you wiggle your toes on your left foot and then your right one for me?"

I do as I'm asked, even though it sends pain shooting through me.

"That looked uncomfortable for you, was it?"

Dr. Cullen asked, as he placed his hand in mine again. And as he expected, I gave his hand another squeeze confirming his analysis.

"Alright, how about your fingers on your other hand, can you move those?"

I wiggled them slightly preparing myself for the same pain again, only it didn't come. Sure my hand felt a little sore but no shooting pain like in my feet.

"Excellent! Okay, Isabella I hate to do this to you, because it will probably be very uncomfortable, but I need to check your eyes."

Dr. Cullen gently pulled at the skin below my eyes and his warning was spot on. As soon as my eyelids were parted, there was an intense burning sensation that caused my eyes to water. As my eyes adjusted to the light and Dr. Cullen came into focus, I noticed right away how handsome he was. He looked to be older, like my Mike, but, though he is very good looking, his looks certainly can't compare to my husband. By the way, where is my husband? Why isn't he here? I turn slowly to look at my mother and she is staring at me with unshed tears in her eyes and her hand covering her mouth. I crease my brow in an attempt to get her to tell me what has her so emotional, but she stays silent.

I mean, okay I get it. We were in a car accident, but we're alive and that's all that matters. Maybe Mike is in another room. I wonder if he is in as much pain as I am.

I struggle through the pain and attempt to speak.

"M… m… mom…

My voice sounds hoarse, and my throat is very sore.

"Oh Bella, shhh don't try to talk." Mom said, while stroking my hair; but I had to find out where Mike was.

So I tried again.

"M…mom, Mike?" 

At the mention of his name, it was like the dam broke and all of those unshed tears came running down her face. The look in her eyes was very familiar to me and I refused to let my mind even think what her expression seemed to be telling me.

"W…where is h…he m…mom?

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry."

At that moment I saw Dr. Cullen come around the bed. His expression was blank, but there was something in his eyes that scared me. My stomach began to turn and the room grew very small and very warm. My throat felt like it was closing and I couldn't breathe.

"S…sorry? For w…w…what mom?" 

My mother looked over at Dr. Cullen and they seemed to be having a private and wordless conversation. He then nodded slightly at her as if giving her the okay to do something.

"Bella… Bella, sweetie… you and Mike were in a very bad car accident, and… and… they worked on him for a longtime…"

"No…no, no, no, NO! I… I don't b…believe you! No, it's not t…true, m…mom tell me it's not true! Pl…please, mom, please!"

My worst nightmare had come true. My mind starting racing and I was back in the car with Mike. We were laughing and then his cell phone chimed with the alert for his office emails. Being the workaholic he has always been, he grabbed his phone to check it. In that split second, in the blink of an eye, he took his eyes off the road and missed seeing the deer that ran out of the woods on the side of the road we were traveling down. When I called his name, he looked up, slammed on the brakes and tried to swerve around it. Because we were traveling at over fifty miles per hour, the sudden jerk of the wheel caused the car to spin out of control. That is as much as my mind will allow me to remember. I continue to look at my mother and we both have tears running down our face. I'm am silently begging her to tell me this is a joke and that Mike went out for coffee and will walk in my room any minute now.

"Baby, Mike wasn't wearing a seat belt, and… and he was thrown from the car. I'm so sorry, Bella; they couldn't save him."

My mother sat on the side of my bed and gently pulled me into her arms, like mother's do when you have a boo boo and they want to make you feel better. Except this isn't a boo boo; this is a gigantic wound, a crack right down the middle of my heart, my life support being disconnected! The room grows even smaller and everything fades to black…

 **A/N: So what do you think of chapter 2? Thank you for the support from all that starting following this story and signed up for alerts. Please leave me your thoughts and next chapter we will meet Edward! Thanks again guys!**


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